Wednesday, April 5, 2017

IWSG is in session

Whoah there Nellie!
I'm writing this on March 31st. On the fifth - when you're reading this - I'll be zinging through the air flying from Goose Bay to St. Anthony to have hip surgery.  I'll be having it on the 7th. Who says writing isn't time travel! Of course it is.

If you haven't signed up for the IWSG - here's the link to those who have. Go visit a bunch of wonderful bloggers.This month's question was about how the A to Zed  helped with marketing. I'm not marketing yet but at any rate I'm not doing the  A to Zed  this year for the first time in forever. That made me feel a little bit sick to say. Am I really not? Already my mind is figuring out how I can do it and still stay sane. My operation is on the seventh and no idea how I'm going to feel for the first couple of weeks so no - I can't do it.

Disappointment is what I'd like to discuss in today's post. Disappointment and how it affects one's discipline.  Two weeks ago my novel was rejected by a publisher who requested a full last year. They obviously liked the package enough to request the full but they were committed to publishing a novel with a similar premise so had to turn me down.  It is only the second rejection and so it would be crazy for me to get too blue ... but it has been an extremely tough time and I was hoping for a win. When you are in a shitload of pain (rotten hip), and work is hard, and isolation from family and friends ongoing - well, a person (me) gets sooky.  Lately my discipline has been shit too. I'm not writing regularly. I'm not sending out packages to replace the rejected ones. I'm not even doing my Buddhist meditation practice regularly.  Truth is that I'm working (or was up until the 20th of March) coming home and flopping. This last week when I found out my surgery was postponed a week l went into a fit of making dolls. This is normal for me every two years or so. I'm drawing pretty regularly too.  So there's that.

Here are the two dolls I made -  Izzy is the fuzzy one and Dot the dotty one.



Oh - adding this now as I await my ride to the airport.  Since I wrote this I've recovered a bit of joi de vie. I've sent out two packages to publishers and feel, once again, that I have a good chance of getting Bright Angel published. I also made a third doll. 
Her name is Germaine and she recently married and moved to a suburb of Etobicoke - both things she now regrets. She smokes and plans her escape. 

All of these dolls have a small accordion file book, where some of the important details of their lives are recorded.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wishing you well with your surgery, Jan. And trust me, I know all about the disappointment thing. I've had that happen too many times to mention. It's why we need a fundamental faith in ourselves.

Hart Johnson said...

Jan, sending the very best wishes for your surgery and am waggling healing fingers your direction for speedy recovery.

Susan Scott said...

Hi Jan, I wish I automatically received your posts - I've tried before. So, I'm glad to come by today. Best of luck with the hip op, soon you'll be hopefully hip hopping. Sorry about the pain - totally enervating and along with all the other stuff, like not keeping to usual practice of meditating (me too, I'm cross with myself) and my self-discipline seems at times non-existent.

Re: rejection - also one of the hardest in terms of your book and anything really. For this too I am sorry. It's a tough cross to bear. Would you consider self-publishing? Through eg CreateSpace. Going the self pub route does NOT have the vanity thing or failure attached to it any longer. Many very successful already published authors do this as a choice. I am not sorry that Susan Schwartz co author of recent book and I went this route. It was a well considered and conscious choice. Luckily I had the help of my son to convert to kindle and published ... it CAN be done .. and CreateSpace e.g. is good and helpful. There are other companies that convert your book for a reasonable fee. And then there is marketing .. another story. BUT word of mouth is good .. if your book is good and I'm sure it is, it deserves to be out there ...

ALL best wishes for successful op .. use the time for R&R ... Susan.

Susan Scott said...

p.s. your dolls are lovely :)

Jan Morrison said...

Thanks all wonderful women! Updating this as I wait the last bit before my fella picks me up to take me to the airport. Making the dolls (there are now three) and little books about their lives cheered me up. I'm through the rejection (not over but through) and have two packages sent out. And Susan, I'm not adverse to self-publishing but want to try the old fashioned way first. If I don't get satisfaction then for sure I'll self publish or try a hybrid like She Writes. In the meantime, as long as I have the query packages moving about - I'm good and when my body heals I'll get back on the writing and meditation wheel.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Jan - I came across you via CDGallant's blog and the A-Z ... so I do hope the hip has settled down - I had mine two years ago last January ... and managed the A_Z, but didn't blog much before that ... so much time to sit down -is not good for the new hip - you'll feel fine in about 3 weeks, distinctly better in six ...

Take care - exercise please! ... and look after yourself, then good luck with the book and submissions ... cheers Hilary PS no need to visit - when you're ready!

http://positiveletters.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/g-is-for-goose-gobbling-or-otherwise.html